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Petrol prices are now back at the levels
seen in January 2012. Back then, a barrel of Brent Crude was trading
for $110, so still 10 per cent higher than today’s price.

The fall of 4.63p a litre on last month is the biggest reduction reported by the AA since the collapse of late 2008, when petrol dived 5.4p a litre between mid-November and mid-December.

There was a 4.08p-a-litre fall in the previous month.

The report also found that in late April, diesel car owners could have enjoyed pump prices much closer to petrol’s for the first time in two years.

In the past month, the average pump price of diesel has fallen 4.99p a litre, from 144.30p in mid-May to 139.31p now. But UK diesel still costs at least 4p a litre more than in many parts of Europe.

The AA said it believed the Transport Secretary Justine Greening's calls for fuel price transparency may have helped contribute to a more rapid price fall.

Despite the price falls, the Government will increase fuel duty again on 1 August 2012 which will add an extra 3p to a litre of fuel.

Under government pressure to make pump prices transparent, the fuel industry will have to prove in the future that UK drivers are paying a fair price for fuel, the AA said.

Petrol crisis: At the end of March, motorists panic bought after a tanker strike looked imminent, pushing up pump prices

Edmund King, the AA's president,
said: ‘It is of course excellent news that a two-car family's petrol
costs have fallen £9.83 in the past month and £18.49 since the record
high in April, but could the price crash have happened more quickly, as
it did in Europe?

‘Pump
price transparency, a key campaigning goal for the AA over the past
seven years, could have ensured that the £4.5million-a-day switch of
consumer spending from pump to high street boosted other businesses and
lowered inflation far sooner.’

Across
the UK, Northern Ireland remains the most expensive region for petrol
at 135.3p, charging on average 1.1p a litre more than the next most
expensive area and 2.1p more than the cheapest region, Yorkshire and
Humberside (133.2p).

However,
the cost of diesel in the South East at 140.0p pips Northern Ireland
(139.9) to become the highest in the UK. Once again, Yorkshire and
Humberside is the cheapest at 138.5p a litre.